We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.

The melted water travels across the desert, picking up dust and gravel and reaches the Flagstaff lava field and then falls. Ultimately it ends up in the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. It was beautiful to see so much flowing water and rainbows in the water too.

When I arrived in Los Angeles I loved the ability to see rolling hills and beauty rising up into the sky.

Convincing my teenage daughter to hike Pinnacle Peak Mountain turned out to be more than family travel, it was a mother-daughter moment that brought us together.

Now that I've been here about 2 and a half years, you can take my lessons learned if you want to use the most of your time in Hollywood on where to go and where not to go.